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Executive Order Suspending Refugee Program Could Leave Afghans Who Helped U.S. In Limbo; Trump Signs Executive Orders Cracking Down On Immigration; Trump Begins Second Term With Deluge Of Executive Actions; Tech Leaders, Billionaires Flock To Donald Trump's Inauguration. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired January 21, 2025 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Understood. You told my colleague Kaitlan Collins in December that you didn't know how many people you're going to depart because you didn't know the resources that you would have. How much money do you -- and I understand that you've been in this job now for a matter of hours, but you've been working on it ahead of time for a long time.
Do you know how much money you're going to need from Congress to carry this out?
TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: Look, I've been working with members of Congress and the whole team has been working on it to come up with a number that makes sense. But I -- look, like I've said many times, we're going to use whatever money we have and do the most efficient operation we can. The more money we have, the more we can do, and I think this election proves that American people support the removals of criminal aliens in this country. So, I'm looking for Congress to come through and give us the budget we need.
BASH: One of the president's executive orders suspends the U.S. refugee program, and that action could leave about 2,000 Afghans in limbo who were previously approved to resettle in the U.S., and that includes families of U.S. servicemembers. Why shouldn't those people be allowed to come in the U.S. and stay as refugees?
HOMAN: Look, we need to secure the border. We need to stop the bleeding, right? We can keep bailing the water out of the boat, but we've got to plug those holes. So right now, it's all about securing this nation, securing the border, and we'll address that in the coming days. But right now, we're going to shut that border down and get a hold of this problem. What's happening on our border is the biggest national security I've seen in my career, and I've got over 35 years doing this. We need to take action to secure the border. And we'll discuss the other policies down the road, but right now it's all about securing the border and saving lives.
BASH: So I just want to, again, make sure I understand this, because this is all new and very, very important. With regard to the Afghan refugees, that it was a blanket executive order, but perhaps, it could be amended or specific groups of people could be addressed as you get your arms around this?
HOMAN: No, the order stands as is, but you know, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. We know that a lot of these refugees weren't properly vetted. There are things we need to fix that the last administration broke before we allow the program to continue. So, we're on it. We'll discuss it more in the future.
BASH: OK, so Afghan refugees, children in some cases of U.S. servicemembers, they are no longer safe in the United States?
HOMAN: I wouldn't say they're safe in the United States. The president issued an executive order to give us time to get our arms around this massive problem of immigration in the United States, massive vetting problem that we've got to get our hands around. So that's where we're at.
BASH: OK, so they'll be deported or not let in if they're on their way.
HOMAN: If they're in the country illegally, they have a problem. It's not OK to enter this problem illegally, if that's what you're talking about -
BASH: But if they were admitted -
(CROSSTALK)
HOMAN: -- we're going to enforce immigration laws.
BASH: -- and now that law changed.
HOMAN: And they'll be handled by case by case basis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And up next, we're going to talk to the panel here about what we just heard from President Trump's border czar. And also Democratic efforts to try to block some of what the president is doing. Stay with us.
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[12:37:42]
BASH: We just heard it here before the break, I spoke with President Trump's border czar about the long promised immigration plans and what he calls operations. Other people call raids that are getting started, he said.
As we speak, I want to come back to the panel. You have -- you live in South Florida. You've covered these issues for a long time. What was your takeaway?
MARC CAPUTO, SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: My takeaway is that Homan is just sort of the front man for this operation, right? He's the scary guy who goes out there. But by and large, this is a Stephen Miller operation. And Stephen Miller is the most powerful unelected man in Washington.
And he has the ear of the president. He drafted these orders. He's an expert in immigration. He would like to see as little immigration currently as possible and has spent four years -- well, eight years really studying that issue and drafting policies.
So I think, unlike last time, they are probably going to see more success. Yes, they're going to be met with a lot of problems in the courts. But another thing, which you touched on in your interview, that they're going to have a problem with is, if you are going to have mass deportations, where do you send people to?
And Homan just sort of glazed over that like --
BASH: Yes.
CAPUTO: -- oh, other countries will take them like, really? Which ones? They don't have an answer for that.
BASH: And what about the notion of, yes, he's continuing to say that they will go after people who they pose -- they believe pose a danger to American citizens, but that others who don't who are, you know, living their lives.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.
BASH: Yes, they might be undocumented, but they might have jobs and kids or maybe even be kids that get caught up?
BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, he said to you when you pushed him and you asked him, he said that if there are other undocumented migrants that are next to or working next to the criminals that we're targeting, they will be arrested. And the next step is that they would be deported.
So regardless of whether or not they, you know, pay taxes or they have American citizen family or they haven't committed any crimes, if they get scooped up, they're going as well. That can lead to the separation of families like you alluded to.
So, yes, he's made clear time and time again that no one who is here as an undocumented migrant is off the table and that they will also deport them. And with Trump invoking the alien enemies act, which there's questions about whether or not his invocation is even legal, but him invoking that, the lawyers and scholars that I've spoken to said that also gives him the power not just to target undocumented migrants, but to target migrants who are here legally, and to potentially detain and deport them.
[12:40:18]
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, I think the reality is like where this ends up happening will also play a role into who's the governor there, who's the mayor there. So we're going to see a confrontation. It's your point about the front man, Marc. I think that is part of this is by design as well. The Trump administration would love to see a confrontation with the Democratic governor of Illinois, for example, or the Chicago mayor, for example. So I think where this is playing out in a very visible form, likely in prime time that will also be a key part of this.
BASH: OK, hold on one second. We're going to sneak in a quick break. We are going to continue to talk about the tsunami of executive actions that we've seen. Try to help me make sense of it all and cut through it. Stay with us.
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[12:45:34]
BASH: President Trump's day one deluge of executive actions went way beyond the January 6th pardons and clamping down on immigration. Among the most noteworthy, in no particular order, are as follows. Putting a 75-day pause on the TikTok ban that took effect on Sunday, restoring the federal death penalty. Putting a freeze on all federal hiring, excluding the military and making it easier to fire career federal employees.
Declaring a national energy emergency to cut red tape and lower prices, part of his drill, baby, drill philosophy. Also withdrawing from the -- withdrawing the U.S. rather, once again, from the Paris Climate Accord. Pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, recognizing only two genders, male and female, and ending diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI programs in the federal government.
Changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and changing the name of the highest mountain from Denali back to Mount McKinley. Not to mention undoing nearly 80 executive actions put in place by President Biden. That was just in day one.
Coming up, the billionaires. They were everywhere on inauguration day. We're going to break down the enormous wealth surrounding Donald Trump as he was sworn in as president and why. That's next.
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[12:50:57]
BASH: We all know that old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words. But this one from Donald Trump's inauguration is worth more than $1 trillion. That's the combined net worth of Meta Chief Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and, of course, first buddy Elon Musk, who was just a few feet away as the president took the oath of office.
French billionaire Bernard Arnault also had a prime seat, which means four of the five richest people in the world attended the inauguration. But they weren't the only billionaires in the bunch. We can't forget Apple CEO Tim Cook, Republican donor Miriam Adelson, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who you can see chatting there with social media stars Jake and Logan Paul. And those are just the billionaires that we have the photos of. My panel is back here. And I want to just put back the picture of the tech CEOs. First of all, we talked about this real time, but it's important that there's Elon Musk, but the broader picture, they were standing in front -- or sitting in front of members of Donald Trump's own Cabinet. What does that tell us?
AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": I mean, I think it tells us that, you know, Trump puts these people in a place of honor because he's always wanted to be one of the club. I mean, look, he was always, you know, a big businessman, but at times he could be seen as, you know, a bit of just a showman and not really the great businessman that he sees in his head.
And so he's always wanted to be a part of this club. I think that what happens is, when you have all of these people gunning for influence is that you are going to have the fights that come along with that. And there is a question of who is going to hold the most power.
You already have some talk that evangelicals are concerned that people like Elon Musk are getting so much attention and what about them and what about their influence.
BASH: Yes.
RASCOE: And so I think that's what you're going to have come up in this at this point with this embrace of the billionaires.
BASH: And yet, yes, it was about being a showman and about the imagery and everything that we're now doing because we have the photos and we had that extraordinary moment, but it's also about policy and it speaks to what Trump said in his inaugural address, which is that he does want to usher in what he calls the Golden Age of America.
And in 2025, that is technology. There's no question that he made promises to help build a lot of the technical data infrastructure that is needed in order to keep what they're doing with innovation alive, particularly when it comes to artificial intelligence.
ZELENY: It's going to be the Golden Age for a lot of those people in the room. There's no doubt about it. I mean, under that golden dome. I think the fascinating thing about this is the reason that Donald Trump won the popular vote, the reason that he had this really remarkable return to power, which he could not have predicted four years ago. Certainly we couldn't have was the in this populist disdain out there.
So the difference between many of his supporters versus many people in the room is stark. He's not running for re-election again. His base is obviously squarely with him. But that is what to me is so fascinating about this sort of a bookend of his true supporters.
Many of whom I saw out in the cold yesterday standing on Pennsylvania Avenue waiting to catch a glimpse and happy to do so. So I just think how that mix works. It's unique to Donald Trump, but it's going to be a fascinating sort of blend here.
CAPUTO: But it's also aspirational. A lot of those people, a lot of his base, like the fact that he's around billionaires.
ZELENY: Sure.
CAPUTO: And on the money side, yes, it's a Golden Age. It's also sort of a gilded age. There is sort of a harkening back to that era of our country. But while he was at Mar-a-Lago and before he was sworn in, Donald Trump was having meeting after meeting with special interests, corporate interests, who were coming to him, and basically throwing money at him that he wasn't asking for.
I had reported this earlier. They're on pace to raise about $500 million in his political committees by June. That is a lot of money, especially for a guy who's termed out.
[12:55:04]
And in some cases, he was actually pulling out balance sheets from some companies and saying, you just gave me this much, here's how much you made. Where were you for four years? He was dressing them down and then taking their money, and then, from what I'm told, telling them, like, maybe you'll get something, maybe you won't, but essentially, you owe this money, and tough luck.
BASH: Wow.
BARRON-LOPEZ: In a way, receiving more direct payments than he ever did through his Trump hotel when he was first in office. The hotel down on Pennsylvania Avenue. I mean, none of that is normal so I think it just has to be said.
And it's striking that just days after outgoing President Biden warned of an oligarchy taking shape in the country, there's that photo that you showed, Dana, of these tech billionaires potentially on their way to become trillionaires sitting in front of the Cabinet.
BASH: And I do want to quickly show our viewers another really important photo, and that is the CEO of TikTok, you see there in the middle, and Tulsi Gabbard, the president's nominee to direct the nation's national intelligence agencies.
RASCOE: I mean, that's very important because you had Trump asked yesterday about TikTok and he said, oh, it's more about the kids. I don't think it's a big national security threat. Now, I'm sure that some in Congress would disagree with that, but that's going to be one of the big issues, right?
Like, what does it mean to be in this age of social media and where you have all of this information on your phones that you have? Chinese companies and others that they can use that information and how seriously do we take that, and that is something that Tulsi Gabbard, who is, you know, going to have probably a bit of a difficult time getting in that position that she would have to deal with if she gets there.
BASH: Thank you all so much for joining me. Thanks for your terrific reporting. Buckle up. CAPUTO: Indeed.
RASCOE: Yes.
BASH: Thank you for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts after the break.
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